Item Progression in Ruthless (and SSF in general)

Hi there.

First of all - I love playing SSF, especially in Ruthless Mode since it came out. I've already described my reasons in another post and won't repeat myself here. Just this: I like the scarcity in Ruthless in general very much, it gives all items much more weight and it is simply a pleasure to pick things up from the ground and of course you are especially happy about rare finds/rewards.

In the lower level range it's all still good.
You find an item with more and better rolled affixes and you have an upgade, you are happy.
Doesn't happen very often but every now and then.

But... the further you get in the progression, the worse it gets - although at the same time you have higher and higher requirements for the items to be upgraded.
There are two reasons for this. The first and main reason is that even on level 100 bases of items the lowest affixes can be rolled. It's just no fun to find a chest with item-level 85 and affixes like +5 life and +10 armor on it. The scaling of the possible rolls should adapt to the item level. E.g. a level 100 item should be very valuable because it would only roll tier 1-3 affixes. Accordingly, level 80+ items should also be able to roll only in the upper tier range.

The second reason is that currency is generally rare (which is totally ok) and a crafting bench doesn't exist. So you can't really modify or upgrade a potentially useful item.
This makes it increasingly frustrating and at some point statistically impossible to progress the further you go.

I don't think it should be the goal of ruthless game mode or PoE SSF modes in general to frustrate players with increasing time investment. The game should not become demoralizing at a certain point but should offer constant room for progression the higher you go in difficulty. Scarcity is GOOD but please adjust the affix rolls for SSF and/or especially SSF-ruthless.

A few closing words...
Dear GGG team, your game is great.
Your community, who play every League and invest a lot of time, loves it - and it grows more and more.
There is a game mode for everyone, which is really great - and I personally like SSF/R.
I am well aware that the game is balanced around the Trade League.
Nevertheless I would like to ask you to look at each game mode more individually.
Because the players who like them are also individual and have different motivations and goals.
Make good things better, keep going.

But you can absolutely craft really good items in Ruthless, and the item scarcity is what makes the moment you acquire them so much sweeter.

The thing that you complain about is literally a feature.

I pushed rank 1 Chieftain in SC-SSF-Ruthless last season and had a real blast doing it. Some notable items in spoilers so you know I'm not talking out of my behind:



What you want to do is branch out and run all types of content to aid you in crafting. At some point it will be worth running Essence to supplement your crafting, and so is running Kirac missions with Essence monoliths (since it will spawn a bunch of them, not just one).

Fossils are another thing worth noting. Find one? Good, you can use the Harvest bench to roll the ones you need. Highlight 80+ bases you want to craft with to save Scours since Resonators and Essences only work with normal quality items.

Long story short: hang in there. It's possible if you invest the time.

Good comment, thanks for the tips and the glimmer of hope.

The armor is insane.... in ruthless standards.
The other stuff is also quite good but nowhere near the level of what could be achieved.
(But I'm not complaining, I picked up a 6L bow from the ground in the first week).

Essentially what you recommend is pretty much my plan and I'm working my way forward as best I can. Although I strongly suspect you and I are in different dimensions in terms of time and experience invested.

You are probably right, it is a "feature" but it doesn't have to stay that way. Most people have their limits for sanity and time investment. I've already maxed out my personal ones and invest a relatively large amount of time in the game. Probably more than most would. And yes, I still enjoy putting in the work and making steady progress. Of course SSF-R is meant for enthusiasts and not for the masses. But even among them are many with limited time and frustration tolerance. That is why I am making this suggestion. Even if the game mode is aimed at a small group of people, it should not become demoralizing at some point. I just want the game experience, which I already like, to be even better or to remain consistently good over a longer period of time.

That's why I think it would be worth considering to give more weight to the item level and to make bases with a higher item level more valuable.